Video Friday

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Contest!!!

Over at Made in the USA . They are giving away wood products by BEKA! Go check it out but if you win send them to Anna lol just kidding ~ good luck! Who ever wins will be very lucky!

Wordless Wednesday!

Works for me Wednesday

Here is a little trivial one but one that saves steps in the kitchen. We all know how when you are running around trying to cook and your trash can is suddenly full. You have to take the time to take it out (unless you use a grocery bag lol) so to take less time I keep back up bags in the bottom of the can. That way it is 2 fluid steps: Take bag out - sit it aside for hubby to take out lol and then grab bag out of bottom of can and replace it. No going under the cabinet to grab them and trying to get just one out. It works for me as simple as it is.

What works for you? For more you can go to HERE!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I just thought I would share with you all that the Grinch comes on tomorrow night! That would be Wednesday, Nov. 28th. This is only the bestest Christmas Cartoon created you can just ask my hubby! Don't tell anyone but he still giggles like a child when he watches this show. So tune in to ABC tomorrow night at 8:30 and giggle like a child and forget all of the trials of adulthood!

Merry Grinchmas everyone!

Oh yeah and if you are reading this tonight (Tuesday) Charlie Brown's Christmas is coming on at 8:00 also on ABC!

Tackle it Tuesday

I thought I would give an update on my Potty Training tackle I started November 5th. I believe we are pretty much complete. YAY ME!!! We went from 0-60 in 3 weeks or really 2. I will share my strategy with any interested parties. I felt pretty much like I was going at this blind. I had read a few things but still didn't feel like I had a good handle on it.

1. The first thing I had to do was get her to pee pee in the potty for the first time because we couldn't seem to make that happen. So I started letting her run around without a diaper and didn't have any luck except a few puddles in the carpet! Then I thought well she usually goes after sleeping so after her nap (with a diaper) I stripped her and sat her on the potty and finally we scored! She got her choice of Halloween candy!


2. After she realized she got chocolate for pee peeing we were golden! Well except for pooping we had a few accidents but thanks to the good Lord she hates mess! So once she felt that a few times she was ready to give it a go on the potty. She cried and begged to get off and always says she is cold right before but we had success!


3. Our next obsticle was the fact she didn't like using strange pottys and by strange I mean any potty besides her own. A few accidents while out and about seem to have curred her of her fear. Now she even goes at restaurants! (without the potty ring!)


4. We had a few casualties - my phone got dropped in the potty, candy got dropped or eaten by the dog.


5. Now our last few obsticles are weaning her from needing a reward for pee peeing and pooping in the potty and also, wetting the bed at night. As long as we don't give her anything to drink after 7 we usually do great at night so hopefully we will be good on that front soon. The needing chocolate well we all want chocolate and rewards so I don't how we will cross that one lol.

Thanks for joining me on my journey! I will try to stop posting about it so much lol! What are you tackling today? To see more go here!

PS if you have time how about voting in my poll over on the side for my Christmas card!

Finally Home!

We got home late yesterday afternoon. We ran in the door, unpacked the car and I cooked dinner and headed out leaving my hubby with Anna. I had choir practice and I was an hour early lol. I missed the memo since I wasn't there last week that it was pushed back an hour. So I chatted with friends and relaxed for a few. Don't tell anyone but it was really kinda nice. We have been going strong for over a week and I am tired! Anna is too she was so sleepy when nap came around today she wanted to just skip lunch. Last night she was so tired she wanted to go to bed at 8. Now that we are home we are going to take it easy for a few days. Doing the bare minimum! We went visiting friends this morning. Then we repaired our wreath and put it up. Bare MINIMUM lol. I will do some laundry later cause Anna wet the bed again last night. I hope once we get back into the swing of things we can get back on track with the bed wetting stuff. That is really the only time we are having accidents now so I guess I shouldn't complain but... I am! Having to deal with a wet bed at 2 in the morning is NO fun whatsoever!

Well, I am going to run now and use the rest of nap time to work on some pictures we took while we were gone. I might have a poll on here later to see what picture you guys think we should use for our Christmas cards. Have a great day!

Celebrating 200+ Posts!

A little over a year ago I started this blog as a way to voice my thoughts. 200 posts later and I am totally addicted. Not only to writing here but to also reading others. I have been given an outlet to all different types of Moms that have been or are going through what I have been going through. I would like to say:

Thank You!!! For being here for me and with me through the good and the bad and the every day!

This and That

I missed my 200th post! I was hoping to do something profound or at least exciting lol. I guess I will have to pretend I am doing it later. I can't believe I have been blogging long enough to do 200 posts!

Anywho, in other news, we decided to stay an extra night because we are having so much fun. We are helping decorate for Christmas and all of that fun stuff. We went to see a horse for the second time this week. I thought Anna would be terrified of him but she loves him. Today she even kissed him. I was worried though cause she wasn't watching what she was doing when she was rubbing him and she about poked his eye out twice yikes. He didn't seem to mind though. He liked the smell of her. He kept trying to sniff at her lol and then he kept trying to bite my boobs! The things we endure for our children! Let me run I think I am missing out on all the fun. I hope y'all have had a wonderful holiday!

Pictures from Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have all had a great one. We are stuffed and stuffed again. We go get trees tomorrow as long as it is not raining. Not for our house but for my sister in law and my parent in laws lol. Keep your fingers crossed it won't be raining. Well it is time for left over turkey so I will come back later!

Thanks for coming by!

Soothing the Soul!

Being with family has a way of soothing the soul. I don't know if it is because of the peace that you have knowing you are loved or if it is just the feeling of days gone by. Whatever it is, it is just what I needed. I have been feeling slightly stressed lately. I don't know if it is the whole potty training thing (I will update you on that later) or the fact that money is so tight we won't be able to give Anna a lot this year. Whatever it was, it is gone, at least for the moment. My wish for all of you is that during this holiday your soul may be soothed by your loved ones.

*Potty Training Update:

It is going pretty good. We have had a few set backs since we are out of town but all in all it is going well. As long as we have her little potty that sits in the big potty things are golden. So we can't venture to far without taking it with us. I really can't complain though we have had a few accidents but mostly she is doing GREAT!

I've been tagged!

I was tagged for this meme by two people so I thought I better do it lol. First a Fantastical Mediocrity got me and then Cheeky Attitude hit me.

Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I like to watch soap operas. I am currently addicted to Young and the Restless. So I watch it while Anna is napping.


2. If I am home alone I tend to sleep on the couch or now I sleep with Anna so I don't have to sleep alone.


3. I floss my teeth watching tv.


4. I got to watch my daughter when I was pregnant grab her umbilical chord and release when she realized she wasn't getting enough oxygen.


5. I like to play my music loud. It doesn't matter if it is country, rock, Christmas music or classical. I like it LOUD!


6. I like to sit in the floor. I have to because of Anna but I really like to hang out in the floor.


7. I sleep twisted up like a curly pretzel. My legs are on the side and my upper body is on my stomach and my arms are curled up under me. Don't know how or why I started sleeping that way and everyone says it looks uncomfortable. However, I can't go to sleep unless I am like that.

Anna is calling me so I will have to tag people later. If you want to play along leave me a link and I will come check you out and put your link on here!

Funny Stories

I just wanted to share a few funny stories. I haven't blogged in a few days cause we were getting ready to travel and then traveling lol. So I have been storing them up and I am about to bust to get them out.

The other night I was talking to Chris. It was after Anna had gone to bed. I was telling him about a friend of ours that has a son and he was sick. She was worried about him since he had a fever of 100.5. I hope someone else can hear what I am about to say because it really happened without me knowing. I said "so she called the doctor and the doctor said". Now I don't know if y'all figured out what is so funny about that comment but my hubby informed me that I need to read more adult books for a while. That line is almost straight out of 5 Little Monkeys. I didn't even realize it.

I tend to watch Rachel Ray through the week on regular TV. It came on the other day and Anna got all excited. She said "ohh cook - shes cookin" . We had to sit on the edge of the couch and watch all of Rachel Ray. This is the kid that doesn't like TV much at all. It was the episode Teri Hatcher and her daughter were on. When they came out and all three were together she said "cute, Mommy, they cute".

This morning I was getting Anna ready so we have her hair in pigtails and I put on a little white shirt with flowers across the top. (I am sure I will have pictures later.) She looked in the mirror and pointed at herself and said "cuute"! It was hysterical.

Doesn't she sound just adorable or should I say "cute"!

These Boots are Going to Walk All Over YOU!

I put this on Anna's blog but thought you guys might get a kick out of it too!

Potty Training Update:

We had 2 consecutive days of no accidents woo hoo! Today however, we had our play date and she wet her pants while we were there. I knew she had to go and I should have made her go sit on the potty but she gets so stressed using a different potty so I just let it go. Now she is napping and she wouldn't go before she laid down so I figure she will wake up wet but we will see. All in all it is going pretty good. Much better than I thought would go.

Update for the update lol:

She did not wet her pants while napping! She has done great all afternoon. YAY!

Works for me Wednesday

I am so very excited about the upcoming holidays. So I thought I would share with you about what works for us during this time of year. We will be heading up to my inlaws next week and we will have a yummy dinner Thursday and spend time with family and friends. I love this holiday because it is not commercialized. We can spend a day together not worried about if someone likes something we bought or oh no they got me something way nicer than I got them. Instead you look around and you feel blessed for being a part of the family. Friday we will more than likely go get Christmas trees for both my parent inlaws and my sister in law. We will help them decorate their trees and have fun with Christmas music and treats. Saturday we will head home and hopefully get out tree and decorate it over the rest of the weekend. I will have our stuff all out and ready to go before we head out of town and I even keep some wrapped boxes so I can have instant presents under the tree lol. I wish I were one of those people to that could have all of there shopping already done but I am not lol. I give up trying I apparently thrive on the thrill of last minute shopping lol. So that is how we kick of the holidays! How do you do it? Also, if anyone has an answer to this I would love to hear it ~ How do you take a 2.5 hour trip with a toddler that is potty training and won't use anyone else's potty? I am nervous about that part lol. Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

Last Year

This YearLast Year
This Year

Today's Potty Update!

Well, yesterday was great we had NO accidents and like I said we even pooped in the potty. Today, so far we have had no accidents as of now at 6:00 pm and we have pooped in the potty twice! We even went out for a while and didn't have any accidents. She doesn't like to go to the potty anywhere but home. I can't really blame her I prefer to use my own too at least then I know it is clean! So anyway, things are going great!!! Next week will be a real test since we will be out of town and with the grandparents. Oh and last night we used our last diaper so we are not buying any more! We are going to use those rubber panties at night. I am a little worried that her lady parts won't breathe enough at night but she is foot loose and fancy free most of the day so I am hoping that will counter balance. Any thoughts or words of wisdom on this would be greatly appreciated! I know most people use pull ups at night but those things are super expensive so I would rather not even go there ya know!

Tomorrow we are going on a play date so we will see how that goes we will probably be gone for a couple of hours back to the Bamboo Farm. They do have restrooms but I don't know if she will use them lol.

The Me and Mine Meme 100

My blog name is A SAHM's Journal

My real name is Candace

and here is my profile ~ All about me!



I want to be profiled on BlogHer as a family blogger!



I have been blogging since October 18, 2006 and have almost reached 200 posts!



For more information about this meme click this link!



The three other bloggers that I think should be profiled/interviewed are:
Lori @ Queen of Dirty Laundry
Shawn @ Letters to my Daughters
Mary @ Not Before 7

Potty Update:

So yesterday sucked. She did great in the morning. Didn't pee pee at church but held it until we got home. Then she pooped in her pants not once but twice! Then she peed in them while she napped and then again at church last night. I was feeling like we were going to be starting over but today she hasn't had any accidents yet. She tells me when she wants to go and any time she says it we go sit until she says she is done. If she pees YAY if not at least she is associating saying it with going to the potty. Well then we had a major break through while I was cooking. She said pee pee and I took her in there for about the 10th time in the past 15 minutes and I left her in there to go check lunch. I came back and she showed me her poop in the potty YAY!!! Isn't that awesome! She pooped in the potty WOO HOO!!! So that is our update isn't it just awesome. Maybe we can have this whole thing under control by Thanksgiving! Just maybe!

Monday Musings

Yesterday I had a hard time paying attention in church. I don't know what my deal was but I really couldn't tell you one thing the preacher touched on. My mind would wonder off and I would try to pull myself back and then I was lost and it would wonder again. I guess it happens to us all at times. Last night I had choir practice we are getting ready for our Christmas program. I am doing a solo :P I will be singing the second verse of Away in a Manger. I am nervous about this considering I have not done a solo in ages! So I had a practice so that we could find the key for me and I did ok. Then I had nursery duty. It was just Anna and her friend Brooks. The lady I was with is in the Sunday School class I would be in if I weren't teaching. I am helping them with their part of the Christmas program scene. So we grabbed the preachers wife who happens to be the music lady and talked about what was what with everything. We got that all cleared up and then the other lady started talking about her divorce and subsequent counseling by a "Man of God". I won't go into any details because someone could read this that knows her and I don't want to go there. However I will tell you what the "man of God" told her that really threw me for a loop. He told her that because she filed for divorce (even though she didn't have an option) she didn't have the right to ever marry again. If she did she would be condemned to hell because she would be committing adultery every day of the rest of her life. This poor woman has struggled with this for the past 4 years and never even considered dating a man because she only wants to please God. Of course none of us KNOW how God feels about it. However, I feel that what that man said to her was awful and cruel almost as awful as what her husband did to her. In my limited education of what the Lord thinks and feels or wants from us I like to think that my God is a forgiving God, a loving God and a God that wants us to be happy and to thrive. If all of that is true why would he want this wonderful woman to be lonely and depressed for the rest of her life? Would he want to punish her because her husband turned into a creep?

Video Friday!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Here is a video of Anna and Brooks at the Bamboo Farm!

Our first Casualty

So today we had our first casualty or perhaps fatality of the potty wars. Anna was sitting on the potty and I was chatting with Yia Yia. Anna of course had to talk to Yia Yia so I gave her the phone and said don't drop it in the potty. So she sits there and she talks and kisses at Yia Yia. She then starts hugging the phone which is one of the cutest things ever. Just as I was about to remind her not to drop the phone in the toilet it slipped right out of her hands. I had to go fishing in the potty. Can I hear ya say woo hoo. What a fun day we are having first we have our first poop accident (joy joy) and then this. Luckily I had my phone that I lost for a long time put in a safe place and I can use it for now. Hopefully once the phone dries out maybe it will be ok. If not I think I have insurance on it. Ah the joys of potty training!

If anyone reading this has any fun potty war stories I would love to hear them!

Potty Time

I feel like I should rename my blog to Potty Time. It seems to be all I can talk about lately. Well, lets face it, it is my life right now. I have spent about 80% of my time this week in the bathroom. I guess I shouldn't be complaining. It really is going great. We have had about 3 accidents since Monday. Tuesday we did have her in a diaper for the morning but the only other time she is wearing a diaper now is at night. The rest of the time she is running around bare bottomed or in her rubber panties. They are lovely lol. We have her Halloween pumpkin with her candy in the bathroom and after she goes potty she gets to pick out her treat. She loves that part and the part where Mommy goes nuts and dances around the bathroom too. I have about run out of ways to entertain her while we are waiting to see if she has to go pee pee. So far we have read tons of books, blown tons of bubbles, done a ton of songs and shadow puppets. I guess next we will bring out the coloring books.

We haven't pooped in the potty yet. I guess that will come a little later. Thanks for all of the prayers and well wishes! Please keep them coming that bathroom is making me feel a little claustrophobic these days lol.

OOOO guess what: Anna just jumped off the couch and said "come on, come on" and took off for the bathroom. Within a minute I heard the sweet sounds of her pee peeing in the potty. Maybe we are to a point where I don't have to go sit in the bathroom forever now! YAY ANNA MOMMY IS SO PROUD!!!

Wordless Wednesday!

Tiny Talk Tuesday!

I haven't done this one in a while. Life has been getting in the way. So I wanted to be sure to join in today.

A week or so ago my hubby said "I am going to get some m - i - l - k. (spelling the word milk out). Anna chimes in without any encouragement or anything. I want some milk! Saying the word. Yes I am raising a genius lol. I am sure she heard the m sound and just went with it but still smart cookie huh.

We are potty training (just started) but boy she has picked up that if she goes pee pee she gets cholet (chocolate).

A while ago her words for all food was yumm yumm. She has now figured out that different meals have different names. LunCH - dier and cereal lol. She also knows about snacks. Her favorite snack is a nana or other fruits like gapes and baries. Oh but we can't leave out her all time favorite snack to have with Daddy after dinner p butter.

She enjoys going ouside and looking at all bugs and butterflies.

She is learning her colors. A lot of times they are all black! Other times we get rea, ellow, geen or bown lol.

Toddlers are so much fun! What are your little ones saying? If you would like to see more cute stories go to NB7!

Tackle it Tuesday!

Well my tackle will be an on-going tackle that will last me God knows how long. I am tackling the whole potty training fun stuff with Anna. We actually started yesterday. She went twice and and had one accident. She must have an awesome bladder cause she is only going like every two hours. Is that normal, lol? I am hoping that I can stir up a lot of been there done that Moms and get some good advice on what you did to help your little one along. So any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

If you don't mind offer up a little prayer for my sanity :)

God is Good!

I have been getting a workout by God lately! I have done things in my life that I am not proud of and God has been helping me work through all of it. Yesterday at church our pastor preached directly to me. He did a sermon on Luke 15 the prodigal son. The main point being that the younger son decided he was not happy in his life and he would change it. I am not happy in all aspects of my life and I AM going to change it. I don't know how or any of the details yet but I need to do something. I guess the first thing I need to do is give it all over to God and let him lead me. I seem to make a mess of things when I try to do it myself. Which is all to often! My first action has been trying to get my house all spic and span which if you know me is a challenge lol. I seem to always have clutter and. well as Anna would put it, mess in my house. So we have rearranaged Anna's room and cleaned it all up. Now we are working on the living room. We aren't done yet but we have made progress. After I get my house in line I am hoping that my mind can settle and I can figure out my next move.

My husband and I are in the mist of making many decisions that will effect us for the next few years. It is terrifing and exciting all at the same time. We would appreciate any prayers to help us through this!

My prayer for the day:

Father ~ Please forive me for all of my sins! I love you and I thank you for everything you have done for me. I am so very sorry that I am not all that you want me to be, all that you know I can be. I pray that you can show me the way to being that person. I need your guidance and your strength in all aspects of my life. Thank you for all of the many blessings in my life. My family, my friends, my church. Thank you for helping me through all of this icky stuff I am going through. Most of all thank you for your patience and your guidance. Help me to open my eyes to you so that I may see the path, open my ears to hear your wisdom and set my hands into action so that I may do your will. I pray that you will be with those that are sick of heart or body - may you wrap your arms around them and give them comfort. Please continue to work in my heart Lord and help me to make you proud.

In Your name: Amen

If you want to see how God is working in others lives go to: Sunshine on my Shoulders

Video Friday

Renewing Friendships

I have somehow managed to lose touch with friends over the course of 2 years. Since Anna was born I just had my life revolving around her and let my friends slide. Even the friends that we still see on occasion aren't as close as we use to be. I have decided to change that. I realize after a lot of crap has happened in my life that you need friends. You need people in your life that you turn to and that you are there for. So to my friends (all of you) I am sorry I haven't been there for you as I should have been and I hope that we can renew our frienship. Yesterday, I took a step to renew one with a friend I use to work with. Her daughter had a baby and was in the hospital so Anna and I took them a little gift and visited for an hour or so. It was really nice. Except for the fact that I hadn't been there for her through some very difficult realities it felt like time had not passed. Now I have to live with the fact that I let my friend down and I have to move forward. I hope that we can start over and renew that friendship. Her daughter was always like a sister to me and we seemed to step right back into that. It was very nice. I hope her and her baby get to go home soon!

I like to think that other Moms have this same problem. Adjusting their life and their childs and not giving up their life. However, I think from what I have seen it seems so much easier for others. I hear about people that continue there life after having a baby as they did before and I wonder "How do they do that". My life revolves around Anna and I really don't want to change that I just want to include some of my life in hers. I want to introduce her to my friends have them play a substantial role in her life. After all it takes a village, right? I need balance! That is exactly what I need! Anyone have ideas on how to find balance?